British side of Getty

A rare glimpse into the home of American-born philanthropist Sir Paul Getty will be offered when a "very British collection" of paintings and furniture worth more than $4 million ($10.9 million) from his London residence go on sale.

Paul, who died last year aged 70, was the son of the American billionaire John Paul Getty but had made Britain his home for the last 30 years of his life. He was a generous supporter of English cricket, cathedrals, galleries and film.

The sale of Victorian paintings and works on paper and furniture from his large apartment reveal he was a passionate Anglophile in private as well as in public.

A spokeswoman for Christie's auctioneers, who are handling the sale, said: "The diverse group of objects being dispersed came from his London flat overlooking St James's Park. These offerings give the flavour and enthusiasms of an incorrigible collector and a good friend to England."

The art to be sold on November 24 includes works by Pre-Raphaelites such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones. An oil by William Powell Frith, The Private View, shows Oscar Wilde holding forth at the Royal Academy to admirers which included Robert Browning, the poet, William Gladstone, prime minister, Anthony Trollope, the writer, and Lily Langtry, the actress and royal mistress.

Furniture to be sold includes items from some of the most famous stately homes in the country - Castle Howard, Yorkshire, used in Brideshead Revisited, Chatsworth in Derbyshire, and the Duke of Northumberland's seat, Alnwick, the film set for Harry Potter.

Paul overcame an early addiction to drugs and a number of drugs-related personal tragedies to become a pillar of the establishment in his adopted Britain.

- INDEPENDENT